


i love you, i meant it

by nevermindthewind



Series: we can watch the snow fall for ever and ever [2]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Babies, Christmas Fluff, Christmas fic, Christmas in the Santiago house is a crazy time and Jake and Amy need a break, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Literal Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 10:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17140106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevermindthewind/pseuds/nevermindthewind
Summary: Jake Peralta cannot find his wife.Not that he’s surprised. He always manages to lose her within an hour of waking up at her parents’ house, especially on holidays. This Christmas was no exception.





	i love you, i meant it

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas buddies!!!
> 
> I've had this image of Jake, Amy, and baby passed out in Amy's childhood bed in my brain for literally a month and finally sat down to write it. I hope you like it!
> 
> title from last christmas by wham!

Jake Peralta cannot find his wife.

 

Not that he’s surprised; he always manages to lose her within an hour of waking up at her parents’ house, _especially_ on holidays. This Christmas was no exception.  As soon as Camila saw her daughter and son-in-law walk into the kitchen she promptly handed Jake a bowl of potatoes to peel and in the same movement shooed Amy out. Since then it’s been non-stop Christmas chaos, with more baking and singing and last-minute-gift-wrapping than Santa’s workshop itself. Jake loves it. He’d even bought his little family matching pajamas for the occasion, red and white plaid pants with a red thermal long-sleeve shirt.

 

“Really, Jake?” Amy’d asked the night before. He’d been too excited to wait until Christmas Day. “We’re _those_ people now?”

 

“Oh, Ames,” he’d replied dramatically. “We’re definitely those people. Now throw on your jammies and heat up the cocoa, m’lady. It’s Christmas time!”

 

“I’d rather take the jammies off…” she’d murmured, an eyebrow raised. But before Jake could reply Lucas’ three boys raced into the room screaming “Tia Amy, Tio Jake! Wanna play cards?!” and promptly ruined that plan. At least he managed to win at Hearts, though.

 

But anyway, now here he is, in the family room with what feels like every single Santiago crammed in every seat available, from the couch to the mismatched chairs lining the walls. Every Santiago, that is, except Amy.

 

He _is_ used to being on his own, it’s true. But still, they usually don’t go less than an hour before giving each other a squeeze on the shoulder or a thumbs up from across the room. Now it must have been over an hour since their last interaction.

He leans over to Elena sitting next to him. “You seen Amy?”

 

She shakes her head. “Not since lunch, I think. But that was a couple hours ago.”

 

Hmmm. Time to do a little investigating.

 

Jake squeezes out of his spot on the sofa and makes his way through the ground level, checking the kitchen, den, dining room, and even the laundry room for his missing wife. No dice. She could be in the bathroom, but Amy’s way too efficient to have been in there for _this_ long. The only other place he can think of is the bedroom, so he retraces his steps back to the stairs and clambers up, wiping the sleep out of his eyes as he goes. God, he could use a nap.

 

Once upstairs he makes his way down the hall to Amy’s childhood bedroom. It still has her homemade nameplate on the door -- in Helvetica, of course. Some things never change.

 

He opens the door and announces himself with a tentative knock, only to be shushed the moment he walks in.

 

Ah ha! Sixth time’s the charm.

 

He peers around the doorframe to see Amy laying on her side in her twin bed, eyes wide at the sudden disturbance. However, what’s more important is the sleeping baby curled into Amy’s side — in her adorable plaid Christmas onesie, of course.

 

“I just got her to sleep,” Amy whispers by way of explanation. Jake nods soundlessly as he tiptoes over to the bed. Over the years they’ve learned the only way to fit two people is if they both lay on their sides. Crawling in between Amy and the wall, Jake throws an arm around Amy’s middle as he spoons her, attempting to take up as little space as possible. He uses the other hand to prop up his head, allowing him to still see Zoey over Amy’s shoulder. Some might say it’s too cramped. For Jake, it’s perfectly cozy.

 

“I wondered where you’d wandered off to,” he replies, his eyes now trained on his gorgeous daughter. He runs a finger over her cheek before looking back at Amy. “I should’ve known it’s nap time.”

 

Amy turns and grins. “To be fair, it is very easy to lose track of time down there. I only knew because this girl goes down like clockwork and started fussing at exactly two o’clock.”

 

“Such a Santiago.”

 

She winks. “You know it.”

 

They giggle, but get cut off by a tiny whimper from the bed’s smallest occupant. Both Jake and Amy immediately shut up, holding their breath and praying Zoey’s little outburst doesn’t turn into a full on meltdown. Thankfully, she’d just lost her pacifier, so once Amy pops it in her mouth she falls right back asleep.

 

“Thank god,” Amy says with a yawn as Zoey’s breathing evens out.

 

It’s then that Jake notices the exhaustion in her voice. He takes her hand and squeezes. “I know. How ya holding up?”

 

“Oh, I’m fine,” she replies, not looking up from Zoey. “Mom’s been great and I love watching all the kids loving on her…”

 

“But…”

 

She glares up at him, knowing she’s been busted. “But if I get one more piece of unsolicited advice I will find the nearest appliance and destroy it with Luis’ baseball bat.”

 

“ _There_ it is.” Jake smirks. Amy was the last of the Santiagos to have a baby. This means there are now seven sets of in-laws along with her parents giving them every piece of parenting advice under the sun, and the moon, and every other planet in the solar system. It was enough to drive anyone crazy, but especially a very, _very_ sleep deprived Amy. They’d been here for two days already and while she hadn’t said anything, Jake knew it had to be bothering her.

 

Amy groans. “I love them, you know that —“

“I know.”

 

“— but like, I know how to take care of my damn kid.”

 

“You definitely do.”

 

“If I hear Julian say ‘You know, when Theresa was pregnant…’ one more time I’m going to sock him in the jaw.”

 

“I’d expect nothing less.”

 

“And the next person who takes my baby straight out of my arms will actually get arrested. Mommy can do that, you know,” Amy adds, her voice getting a bit higher and sweeter before planting a kiss on Zoey’s forehead. “Yes she can.”

 

“It’s true,” says Jake to the baby. He then turns his attention back to Amy. “Sorry they’re bugging you. You’re doing great, though.”

 

Amy swivels back to face him, her eyes full of disbelief. “Really?”

 

“Oh, for sure,” Jake assures her. “I mean you’re always amazing. But yeah, you’re handling all of this really well.”

 

He can see her visibly relax, sinking a bit into the worn mattress. “Okay, good. Thanks, babe.”

 

“Of course.”

 

Now that he’s laying down his whole body seems to collapse in on itself. He rests his head against Amy’s shoulder and almost immediately feels her reach back and rub his arm. “You tired, too?”

 

“Mmhmm.” Jake nods against her back. His head weighs a million pounds. “You think your fam’ll notice if we take a little cat nap?”

 

Amy scoots further into his side. “I dunno. We probably should get back downstairs. Help with dinner maybe.”

 

“Y-y-you’re right,” Jake yawns. “Let’s go.”

 

Neither of them budge. It’s taking every ounce of energy Jake has to not let his eyes close.

 

“You start,” he hears Amy mumble. “I’ll be right behind you.”

 

“Ladies first. I insist.”

 

“No no, you go.”

 

“Oh, come on. I got here last, I get to leave last.”

 

There could have very well been a response, but Jake never hears it. He’s out the second his eyes flutter shut.

 

—

 

Camila Santiago cannot find her daughter.

 

In a family of ten people, plus eight in-laws, and 15 grandchildren, it’s no surprise that she loses track of a person or two from time to time. And on top of that, she’s spent most of her time in the kitchen, which is specifically a Amy-Free Zone. But still, Camila can usually count on her daughter to pop in every once in a while. And since Amy was five years old it’s been her job to set the table but now, with ten minutes till Christmas dinner, she’s nowhere to be found.

 

She manages to catch Esteban as he passes through the kitchen.

 

“Papito,” she calls. Her youngest son comes to a screeching halt. “Have you seen your sister?”

 

“Nope.” He shakes his head. “At least, not for a while. You need something?”

 

Camila frowns. “She usually sets the table, that’s all. You know how much she loves folding napkins. But she hasn’t come in yet.” She pats his arm. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.”

 

Esteban is about to respond when a booming voice calls him back into the living room. He takes off, once again leaving Camila alone with her very un-set dining table. She could have someone else do it, but last time she asked one of the girls to help the forks ended up on the wrong side of the table, and Amy actually cried when she saw the smudges on the glasses. Rather than repeat that scenario Camila decides to take matters into her own hands and look for Amy herself.  She scans the kitchen, knocks on both the bathroom doors (and manages to give her husband quite a fright), and peers in every room on the ground floor before finally trekking upstairs to her daughter’s room.

 

Camila approaches the door at the end of the hall with a slight sense of melancholy. It wasn’t long ago this was where her daughter slept every night, where she’d stay up way past her bedtime reading the latest Babysitters Club book or whatever other book was her latest best friend. But now that room for the most part remains empty, except for days like today, when --

 

“Oh my…”

 

She opens the door to reveal possibly the sweetest thing she’s ever seen. Curled up in their matching Christmas pajamas, are Amy, Jake, and her newest grandchild all crammed on that tiny twin bed sound asleep. Zoey is curled into Amy’s side, her arms protecting her baby from rolling off the edge. On Amy’s other side is Jake, his head tucked into Amy’s shoulder while his arm wraps around her side and holds her close.

 

It’s _definitely_ the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

 

And while it means she won’t get her perfect Christmas table setting, and they might have to wait a bit for dinner, Camila refuses to wake them. She knows how hard it is to get a baby to sleep, and how hard these two have worked in the past two days to keep up with the craziness that is their family. They deserve a break. They deserve the _world_.

 

Instead she manages to snap a picture on the new phone Christian got her (apparently it has something called Portrait Mode but he’s yet to teach her how to use it). After admiring her daughter’s little family for another moment she begins to back out of the room, wanting nothing more than to let them rest.

 

“Merry Christmas, Peraltas,” she whispers. And with a final glance she gently shuts the door behind her.

 

\--

 

(When Amy wakes up and notices the table has been set without her, she’s about to storm up to her mother and demand to know why she let some common Santiago take her job. However as soon as Camila shows her the picture she instantly melts, her argument lost amidst the cooing and giggles at her and Jake’s squashed posture and Zoey’s sweet face. Her mom was right; she’d take an extra hour with them over fancy napkins any day.)

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Come follow me and rant about b99 on my tumblr @nevermindthewind


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